![\"Merchant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/6aebe8_a33fbb84c38248daa460ff4a7d4d1c36~mv2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe Highclere Colt Held Off Wimbledon Hawkeye and Emerges as a Great Voltigeur Contender; St Leger Bid Unlikely for Now<\/p>\n
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Merchant Digs In From the 200-Meter Mark to the Wire Over Soft Ground \/ GOODWOOD<\/p>\n
CHICHESTER, Inglaterra (Special for Turf Diario).- The\u00a0HKJC World Pool Gordon Stakes\u00a0(G3, 2400m, soft) turned into a test of grit and heart, and it was\u00a0Merchantwho rose to the occasion. The son of\u00a0Nathaniel, already a Royal Ascot winner in the King George V Stakes, added another major line to his resume Thursday with a narrow but meaningful victory, edging out\u00a0Wimbledon Hawkeye(Kameko) in a dramatic finish under challenging conditions.<\/p>\n
A threat of lightning delayed the start, and the soft going proved tricky for many. Sent off as the favourite,\u00a0Merchantwas forced to bide his time towards the rear as\u00a0Wimbledon Hawkeye\u00a0surged to the front with 400 metres to run. What followed was a gripping duel down the stretch, with the\u00a0William Haggas\u00a0trainee and\u00a0Tom Marquand\u00a0managing to get up by a nose after a determined drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know we\u2019d won until\u00a0Roger Varian, the runner-up\u2019s trainer, walked with me down the stands and told me we had,\u201d said Haggas. \u201cIt was a tough race, and the horse really had to show some guts.\u00a0James Owen\u00a0did a great job getting Wimbledon Hawkeye back on track after Royal Ascot, and his colt ran a huge race. He\u2019ll probably feel unlucky not to have won\u2014but someone had to, and this time it was us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the\u00a0Gordon Stakes\u00a0is a traditional springboard to the\u00a0G1 St Leger, Haggas was noncommittal: \u201cWe haven\u2019t made a decision. We\u2019ll speak with\u00a0Harry Herbert\u00a0from\u00a0Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, but my gut feeling is no.\u00a0Desert Hero\u00a0didn\u2019t come out of it well last year. The plan was the\u00a0Great Voltigeur, but this was a hard race, and Merchant will need at least ten quiet days before we think about what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the saddle, Marquand praised the colt\u2019s courage: \u201cI needed a brave horse today. Wimbledon Hawkeye came down the hill really well and kept on. Merchant hated the ground\u2014he felt in trouble the whole way\u2014but he stuck to his guns. To get his nose in front was a big effort. The runner-up loved the surface and nearly got us, like it so often happens in these races. Merchant really stepped up today, and that\u2019s encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about a possible Leger tilt, Marquand offered cautious optimism: \u201cHe could do it. The thing is, if he doesn\u2019t like this kind of ground, it\u2019s hard to see him getting fast ground at Doncaster in September. But if he does, I\u2019d love to be aboard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Highclere\u2019s\u00a0Harry Herbert\u00a0was equally enthusiastic: \u201cHe\u2019s got a beautiful action, so this soft ground was definitely not to his liking. To win a Gordon Stakes\u2014it\u2019s just thrilling. He\u2019s a very special colt. I\u2019d say he\u2019s the best we\u2019ve had since\u00a0Harbinger\u00a0(Dansili). I\u2019m not comparing them, but he\u2019s a proper horse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herbert confirmed the\u00a0G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes\u00a0at York remains the preferred target, depending on how Merchant comes out of this race: \u201cIt was a tough test. If he were to win there, maybe we\u2019d allow ourselves to dream about the\u00a0Prix de l\u2019Arc de Triomphe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainer\u00a0Andrew Balding\u00a0was satisfied with third-placed\u00a0Windlord: \u201cI\u2019m pleased with that. It was his first run over the trip, and he handled it well. He copes with different ground types and continues to run at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Highclere Colt Held Off Wimbledon Hawkeye and Emerges as a Great Voltigeur Contender; St Leger Bid Unlikely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-38194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}